English star Ryan Woumn heading to East Tennessee State

Lynn English basketball star Ryan Woumn has given his verbal commitment to East Tennessee State, a Division 1 school that many will recognize as the team that lost to Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.Woumn, a three-time Northeastern Conference all-star (and last year’s Item player of the year) gave his commitment to Bucs coach Murray Bartow Friday morning. He will attend the school on a full scholarship.”I’m really happy with the decision,” said Woumn, who flew back to Lynn from Tennessee Friday afternoon. “They needed a point guard who could come in and play. They didn’t guarantee me any playing time next year, except to say they needed a guard.”Woumn, coming into the season, was seen as one of the elite players in Massachusetts after his 2008-2009 breakout season in which he led the Bulldogs to the Division 1 state final. He had an all-star season in ’09 and ’10, too, averaging 24.5 points per game. He had played well in two tournament games this season – after leading English to a 20-1 record during the regular season – when he received two technicals in the Division 1 North quarterfinal game against Lexington. He was subsequently suspended for the D1 North semifinals against St. John’s Prep, which defeated English by a point.”It was a tough way for his season to end,” said Bulldogs’ coach Buzzy Barton. But this is the light at the end of the tunnel.”He had four great years here,” Barton said. “And you really don’t want the end of the season to take away from all the work he did over his career here. So this is just fantastic for him. It’s an honor for him, and I’m happy for him.”Woumn’s father, David, a Lynn police officer, said that East Tennessee State has a curriculum that looks to be a foot fit for his son.”The school offers criminal justice, business, forensic science ? a lot of the things Ryan is interested in,” Dave Woumn said. “He’s probably not going to declare a major until his sophomore year, however.”Dave Woumn said that much of the credit for arranging a visit for Woumn at East Tennessee State belongs to Leo Papile, who is the assistant executive director of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics, and Woumn’s AAU coach.”A lot of the teams who were looking at Ryan were doing so because of Leo’s influence and knowledge of recruiting,” Dave Woumn said.Both father and son raved about the campus and the staff at the school.”It has a great library,” Dave Woumn said. “And the school has a solid fan base of about 5,000, who go to every game.””The people in Johnson City (where the school is located) are just down to earth people ? and everyone on the team was too,” Woumn said.The campus has about 13,000 students. The Bucs play in the Atlantic Sun conference.